SwanQuake: The User Manual

INTRO

The User Manual opens Gibson/Martelli’s SwanQuake project up to discursive reflection and expansion through its selection of articles and essays.

In the first section, the User Manual takes you through some of the processes of making SwanQuake including sound composition, choreography and computer animation work. Also in section one is a modicum of do-it-yourself instructions and two views on Gibson/Martelli’s (igloo) work in relation to the wider field of digital arts practice and culture.

In the second section, the User Manual broadens the scope of the discussion to include the ontology of game art, analysis of perspective in 3-D spaces, ‘uncanny’ realism and collisions between game artistry and commerce.

‘The essays contained in the user manual provide a cultural, historical and technological context for SwanQuake. igloo’s work is an excellent example of the adaptation of game systems to fine art and this means that the essays also serve as an informative (and very well referenced) entry point for current debates around ‘game art” – Rob Myers for Furtherfield